Preliminary state data shows drop in rate of elevated lead levels in Flint

FLINT, MI -- Preliminary data shows 30 of 1,361 adults and children tested since Oct. 1 in Flint had elevated blood lead levels, according to a new state report.

The 2.2 percent rate of elevated blood lead is below the 6 percent rate found in tests done between July and September, the state said.

The latest numbers are on par with lead levels in the rest of Genesee County, according to the state.

Issued today, Dec. 3, the report includes the first testing data since the announcement of a state plan aimed at lowering lead levels in Flint water and in the blood of infants and young children.

Michigan Department of Health and Human Services Chief Medical Executive Dr. Eden Wells said the data for the current quarter is incomplete but is being used to identify those with elevated blood lead levels and to provide outreach.

Wells said conclusions cannot be drawn from the preliminary test results, which show a lessening of the percentage of individuals with lead levels higher than the federal threshold of 5 micrograms per deciliter.

Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha, Hurley Medical Center director of pediatric residency, said the numbers are good news but should not give Flint residents a false sense of security.

The fourth quarter data does not reflect past exposure of people to lead, Hanna-Attisha said, because the toxin dissipates from the body in just a few weeks although the effects of exposure last a lifetime.

Unfortunately, she said, the state data also shows blood lead levels spiked in Flint after the city changed its water source to the Flint River in April 2014.

Hanna-Attisha and Marc Edwards, a Virginia Tech professor, said the blood lead levels from this quarter come from a time when many city residents had stopped drinking tap water or were using a faucet filter because of concerns about lead poisoning.

"Thank goodness we got people off this water," said Edwards, who just this week warned city residents that their tap water is still unsafe to drink without a filter despite a reconnection to the Detroit water system last month.

Today's report shows the percentage of adults and children with elevated blood lead levels peaked in the third quarter of 2014, shortly after the city began using river water.

Blood lead levels typically spike higher in the third quarter of each year because exposure to lead, including lead in dust and soil, Wells said.

Flint's results in the third quarter of 2014, however bucked a 20-year trend of generally lower levels of lead in blood, according to the state's data, rising from less than 4 percent of individuals tested to 7 percent one year later.

"There is an increase in elevated blood lead levels ... They occurred after the switch to the Flint River," Wells said. "I cannot say it is because of Flint water."

The state's release of information today also showed:

Testing since Oct. 1 showed 21 of 969 children age 17 or younger had elevated blood lead levels as well as nine of 392 adults.

In the third quarter of 2010, 8.3 percent of Flint children 6 and younger showed elevated blood lead levels. The figure decreased to 4.1 percent in the third quarter of 2013. During the same months in 2014, the figure increased to 7.5 percent and decreased to 6.4 percent in the third quarter of 2015.

3 percent of children children younger than 6 years old and tested since Oct. 1 have had blood lead levels above the federal threshold for lead.

MDHHS said in a news release today that it has collaborated with the Genesee County Health Department and others to distribute information about lead testing to Flint parents.

The state is providing funding for county nurses to work with families when a child's blood lead level is found to have been elevated, the department's statement says.

"During these follow-up visits, nurses coordinate with environmental health investigators to meet with families in their homes to identify lead exposures, address questions and provide water filters," the news release says.

Flint remains in the midst of a public health emergency because of rising lead levels in water and in the blood of children. Hanna-Attisha's study, published in September, was also based on the blood lead levels of Flint children, showing the number of children with elevated levels had doubled across the city and tripled in some areas since the switch to river water.

Although state officials initially questioned the doctor's conclusions, they later reversed their position and praised her work.

Edwards and researchers from Virginia Tech have tested hundreds of water samples in Flint and conducted studies showing treated Flint River water was extremely corrosive, causing increasing amounts of lead to leach into the water supply.

State officials later acknowledged that they failed to require Flint to treat the river water to make it less corrosive.